The Bottle Opener Challenge aims to identify a new, ergonomic way to open a bottle that's easy, practical and appealing to our consumers. We welcome entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, students, and anyone eager to contribute, to jump into this challenge and to find a solution. To register for the challenge, click the “ACCEPT CHALLENGE” button above. The Challenge Forum is your space to share thoughts and ideas with potential competitors or to create teams with similar visions.

The Challenge

Ever since William Painter patented his ‘crown cork’ in 1892, bottle caps have remained largely unchanged for over a century. Still today, bottle crowns are generally the same across the beer industry. We believe that together, we can do better. It's time to re-invent our bottle closures and present to our consumers an ergonomic, no-tools-needed, minimum-effort design.

The Current Situation

Our options today are:

Pry-off crown corks: by far the most common bottle closure design, but these require access to a bottle opener

Twist-off crown corks: no tools required anymore, but these caps can be hard to open, and its sharp points could potentially cause a consumer to cut their hand when twisting the cap off

Screw caps (metal or plastic): these are more expensive

Champagne corks: very premium and therefore even more expensive

The Opportunity

We believe that by tapping into your collective intelligence, we can find a more user friendly and cost effective way to open bottles, which doesn't require access to a tool, is easy to use and sustainable.

The Challenge Breakthrough

Can you invent a solution that

maintains quality and freshness as much as today’s solutions;

is perceived as better/easier to open by consumers;

is environmentally friendly;

is equal or better in cost compared to current designs?

We are looking for ideas that

have a high WOW-factor: “Consumers would do anything to get such a product”;

have a high FEASIBILITY-factor: “This solution can be implemented easily”.

What You Can Do To Cause A Breakthrough

Click ACCEPT CHALLENGE above to sign up for the challenge

Read the Challenge Guidelines to learn about the requirements and rules

Share this challenge on social media using the icons above. Show your friends, your family, or anyone you know who has a passion for discovery.

Start a conversation in our Forum to join the conversation, ask questions or connect with other innovators.